Alexander Joel

Highlights for 2012/2013 included his succesful debut with "La Boheme" in Covent Garden (resulting in an immediate re-invtation for the season 2014/2015), as well as new productions of Madama Butterfly at the Staatsoper Hamburg (Shown on ARTE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt1gictKhig) and the Grand Theatre de Genève, and Die Fledermaus at the Oslo Opera. Furthermore, he will conduct Revival runs of Don Giovanni and Fledermaus at the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden, Madama Butterfly at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Don Carlos at the Staatsoper Hamburg.

Plans for the season 2013/2014 include new productions of Verdi's "Macbeth" at the Royal Opera Copenhagen, Wagner's "Parsifal" at the Opera de Montpellier, "Otello" at the Teatro Municipale in Santiago di Chile, and his return for his 4th new production at the Vlaamse Opera where he will conduct a Premiere of Mozart's "Don Giovanni". He will also return for a 7th consecutive season to the Hamburg State Opera, where will conduct the revival of "La Traviata", and at the Staatsoper Dresden he will return to conduct a run of "Lustige Witwe". He will also make his debuts in concert with the WDR Köln and the BBC Philharmonic.

In the last seasons, he has a been a regular guest conductor at the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Tosca, La Boheme), the Staatsoper Hamburg (La Boheme, Le Nozze di Figaro, Carmen and Madama Butterfly), the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (La Boheme, Macbeth, Barbiere di Siviglia, Faust (New Production with Keith Warner), and Fledermaus), the opera house Cologne (La Boheme), and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Tosca, La Boheme, Nabucco, Zauberflöte, Turco in Italia Premiere, Ballo in maschera). He also conducted 3 highly acclaimed Premieres at the Vlaamse opera, Richard Strauss’s Frau ohne Schatten (Stage Director:Arturo Marelli), Don Carlos (Stage Director: Peter Konwitchny), and La Forza del Destino (Stage Director:Michael Thalheimer)

Alexander Joel has been guesting regularly in Opera houses such as the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich (where he conducted Entführung aus dem Serail and Fledermaus for 3 seasons in a row), at the Finnish National Opera Helsinki, the Teatro Regio di Parma, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Tokyo New national Theatr, the Opera in Cologne, the Teatro Municipal di Santiago di Chile and the Semper Oper Dresden.

Alexander Joel has been Generalmuskdirektor at the Staatstheater Braunschweig since the 2007/2008 Season, where he conducted over 70 Concert Programmes and conducted Operas such as Salome, Lady Macbeth from Mzensk, Lohengrin, Rosenkavalier, Tristan and Isolde, and Parsifal. He will be giving up this position at the end of the season 2013/2014 to concentrate more on his growing international guest engagements.

Alexander Joel also regularly conducts numerous renowned orchestras on the concert podium, including such orchestras as the DSO Berlin, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Duisburger Philharmoniker the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, Gürzenich Orchester Köln, MDR Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, RSO Wien, Bruckner Orchester Linz, Orchestre de Nancy. He has worked with prominent stage-directors such as Nicolas Joel, Marco Arturo Marelli, Peter Konwitschny and Keith Warner as well as soloists such as Yuri Bashmet, Julian Rachlin, Mischa Maisky, Rudolf Buchbinder, and Sabine Meyer, and Singers such as Juan Diego Florez, Sir Thomas Allen, Samuel Ramey, Violetta Urmana, Diana Damrau or Catherine Malfitano.

Alexander Joel was first Kapellmeister at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein from the 2001/02 season till the 2006/2007 season, where he conducted a very large repertoire of over 35 different operas as well as 9 premieres. At the age of 24 he gave his debut at the Opera in Nürnberg and his first steady engagements led him to Kapellmeister positions at the Stadttheater Baden, the Stadttheater Klagenfurt and at the Wiener Volksoper.

In 1990, after a brief spell studying french and english law at King's college in London, Alexander Joel began studying piano (and later also composition) at the Vienna Academy of Music, before starting his conducting studies in 1991 at the Vienna Conservatory of Music (under Prof. Mark and Prof. Schwarz), where he graduated with Honours in 1996. He was prize winner at European Conducting Competition in Spoleto (Italy) that same year. During his studies, he attended numerous master-classes (including the 1996 conducting master-classes in Tanglewood). After his studies, he worked as an assistant to Julius Rudel, Muhai Tang (Royal Opera Stockholm) and Gustav Kuhn.

News

„…A butterfly production without imagination, that is saved by an inspired musical direction and interpretation….Alexander Joel, at the head of the Orchetre de la suisse Romande, weaves a carpet of sound of shear beauty, even finding accents reminiscent of Debussy in this gigantic musical movement…. »
Antonio Mafra, Petites Affiches Lyonnaises du 27 avril au 3 Mai 2013

«. …Alexander Joel manages to give the Orchestre de la suisse Romande a huge boost, always paying careful attention to a careful balance of colours in which he sculpts some beautiful sounds »
Christophe Imperiali, Le Courier 25.4.2013

« …Alexander Joel obtains a beautiful expressivity in strings and in the winds of the Orchestre de la suisse Romande. He forms the fiery and darkest passages beautifully…everything flows poetically… »
Julian Sykes, Le Temps, 22.4.2014

« …At the head of the Orchestre de la suisse Romande admirable in its precision and engagement (and of a remarkably well prepared chorus), the British German conductor Alexander Joel explores every possible colour as well as the musical outbursts in the score. We have him to thank if we still had an enjoyable evening… »
Emmanuel Andrieu, Classique Info.com, 2.5.2013

« …Thankfully, this Geneva Butterfly production is Worth going to see for the rest of its cast and thanks to the quality of the orchestral playing ….In the Pit, Alexander Joel leads the Orchestre de la suisse Romande to great heights and renders full justice to Puccini’s Music, by highlighting all the colours and aspects of the score, in a perfect balance of lyric passionate moments, and the darker passages… »
Claudio Poloni, concertonet.com, 20.4.2013

« …Very efficient conducting by Alexander Joel who, at the head of the Orchestre de la suisse Romande, knows how to exude all the subtlety and refinement of music that is so reminiscent of Debussy … »
Concertclassic.com, 29.4.2013



***Alexander Joel gets a re-invitation to conduct at Royal opera House in 2014/2015....Alexander Joel announces that he is not renewing his contract as Gernealmusikdirektor in Braunschweig....http://www.tageblatt.de/welt_artikel,-Generalmusikdirektor-verlaesst-Braunschweiger-Staatstheater-_arid,211062.html***

Radio Interview World Radio switzerland
http://worldradio.ch/wrs/programmes/lunch_with/lunch-with-wrs-alexander-joel-pianist-and-conducto.shtml?35411

Radio Interview Avant Scene
http://www.rts.ch/espace-2/programmes/avant-scene/4795484-avant-scene-du-20-04-2013.html

Radio Interview suisse Romande
http://www.rts.ch/espace-2/programmes/magma/4804132-magma-du-23-04-2013.html

La Boheme Royal opera House Covent Garden, 16.2.2013


"...Alexander Joel's conducting was outstanding..." The Spectator, 2.3.2013

"...What a pleasure to attend a performance in which everything comes together, there is nothing to which to object, in short to attend a performance that is a credit to all concerned: director, conductor, orchestra, singers, the Royal Opera House itself! John Copley’s production, here revived by Bruno Ravella, may be nearing forty years old, and in the abstract I should definitely be highly suspicious of a staging that had lasted nearly so long, but it is revived with such belief, such attention to detail, such joy in the work, that it exhibits more life than many a first night, let alone a first revival.
 
Alexander Joel, making his Royal Opera debut, was a new name to me. On the basis of his lively, vital conducting, I hope that I shall hear him again soon. No particular ‘points’ were being made about the score; it was simply treated with respect, allowing the many fascinating aspects of Puccini’s scoring and his musico-dramatic intelligence to shine through. Wagnerisms and modernisms were not underlined; they manifested themselves anyway.... Orchestra and chorus were on excellent form throughout..."
Boulezian, 18.2.2013

"...There was another debutant in the pit the shape of Alexander Joel, a British conductor who has held distinguished posts in various German opera houses and in Vienna; this showed in his sold grasp of the music’s structure and his supportive phrasing, and he coaxed wonderfully supple playing from the orchestra...."

Melanie Eskenazi, What's on, 18.2.2013



Hamburger Staatsoper – „Madama Butterfly“ Premiere 11.11.12 – Alexander Joel

Whole Performance of Madama Butterfly Premiere from the Hamburg Staatsoper on Arte on this Youtube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt1gictKhig

„...Puccinis Drama kommt optisch wie aus dem Lehrbuch für eine wirkungsvolle Inszenierung klassischer Opernpracht daher. Elegant kommt das über die Rampe der Hamburgischen Staatsoper, der Pult-Gast Alexander Joel vom Staatstheater Braunschweig dirigierte präzise und effizient....explodierende Farben, prächtiger Orchesterklang... Die musikalische Seite der Vereinigung entfaltet sich mit den tristanisch-wagnerischen Reminiszenzen in Puccinis Orchesterklang, wobei die fraglos vorhandenen Kitsch-Momente von Alexander Joel durch filigrane Klarheit sublimiert wurden. Dennoch volle Emotionen Punktzahl, blutleer darf eine Pop-Oper wie die "Butterfly" nun auch nicht klingen....“
Der Spiegel, Werner Theurich 17.11.2012

Reviews "madama Butterfly" Grand Theatre de geneve, April/Mai 2013


„…Un décor de carte postale pour cette Butterfly sans imagination, que sauvent une direction musicale inspirée...Cette production ne restera pas dans les annales...Si l’on résiste a ce traitement, c’est d’abord en raison de l’interprétation musicale. A tête de l’orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Alexander Joel tisse un tapis sonore de toute beauté, trouvant meme des accents debussystes a ce gigantesque mouvement musical ininterrompu que Puccini sait habilement exploiter pour émouvoir la ou il le faut, quand il le faut…. »
Antonio Mafra, Petites Affiches Lyonnaises du 27 avril au 3 Mai 2013

« ….A la baguette, Alexander Joel parvient a dynamiser l’orchestre de la Suisse Romande, veillant scrupuleusement a l’équilibre de timbres dans lesquels il sculpte quelques beaux reliefs… »
Christophe Imperiali, Le Courier 25.4.2013

« …Alexander Joel obtient une belle espressivité des cordes t des bois de l’OSR. Il module les passages fougueux et plus sombres….le courant circule, avec poésie… »
Julian Sykes, Le Temps, 22.4.2014

« …A la tête d’un Orchestre de la suisse romande admirable de précision et d’engagement (et de chœurs remarquablement bien préparés), le chef gemano-britannique Alexander Joel s’attache â rendre les moindres couleurs, en même temps que les effusions, de la partition de Puccini. On lui doit d’avoir quand même passé und agréable soirée… »
Emmanuel Andrieu, Classique Info.com, 2.5.2013

« …Fort heureusement, cette Butterfly genevoise vaut néanmoins le détour pour le reste de sa distribution et la prestation de l’orchestre….Dans la fosse, Alexander Joel mène l’Orchestre de la Suisse Romande vers des sommets et rends pleinement justice à la musique de Puccini en en faisant ressortir toutes les couleurs et les facettes, dans un parfait équilibre entre moments lyriques passionnés et passages plus sombres…. »
Claudio Poloni, concertonet.com, 20.4.2013

« …Direction efficace d’Alexander Joel qui, à la tête de l’orchestre de la Suisse Romande, sait dégager toute la subtilité et le raffinement d’une musique aux effluves debussystes… »
Concertclassic.com, 29.4.2013